Renew, Reuse, Recycle

Since a very young age I have been shaped and molded into a recycler.  For me separating plastics, metal, glass, and paper has become second nature or quite possibly a compulsion.  In the U.S. my compulsions are satisfied easily enough; recycling is made so convenient, I can drop off soda cans and bottles at my grocery store, trash collection picks up my separate bins of paper and plastic, and separate trash bins are provided on the street.  Such recycling opportunities are not available here in Togo and I am suffering.

In my kitchen I have a bag for tin cans, a bag for plastic bottles, a bag for paper, a place for used batteries, a bin of compostables, and recently I’ve even added a bag for toilet paper rolls.  If I was back home I could take all these things to the dump and have them whisked away to a recycling plant, but here they sit in my house causing me anxiety every time I see them. 

I am involved with a project establishing a trash collection in Vogan and soon we will be installing public waste bins around the city.  However, even convincing people of the importance of not throwing all their garbage into the street can be a challenge, much less recycle.  We have discussed implementing composting to reduce the amount of waste that enters a landfill, but beyond that there is little to no option for recycling.  We could ask people to separate their trash, but no recycling plant exists, we would simply be making a more organized trash pile.  There are some women who melt down tin cans into cooking pots, but that’s it.

We volunteers have tried to recycle in our own way, particularly for dangerous things like batteries.  In the office we have a bin for dead batteries and whenever someone ventures back to a developed country they are asked to take a handful of batteries to recycle.  The little pill bottles the med unit sends vitamins in can also be sent back for reuse.  Among other acts of recyclable material creativity, at post volunteers use tomato paste cans for making candles and water bottles for hand washing stations.

Maybe the potential use of these materials has also contributed my hoarding.  In addition to the act of tossing my cans and bottles onto the ground being unimaginable, I can’t toss things because they may be useful one day—this is my explanation for even creating a place for toilet paper rolls.  In a place without the convenience of Walmart or Home Depot you never know when a random little doodad may be needed and you have to build it yourself.

My longing to recycle and my resulting compulsion of hoarding is painful.  Probably one of the most persisting discomforts of life here is not being able to dispose of my trash in an environmentally friendly way.  It may sound silly to be so uncomfortable about not recycling, but when you know better and are directly faced with your own waste management it’s tough.  If I had a list of things I miss from the States waste management would definitely be there. Just be grateful that you get the opportunity to recycle, it’s good for the environment and you get the opportunity of not having your very own trash heap.